The Quebec government says Ottawa will have to unconditionally provide funding for a new federal program for meals in schools.
The Minister responsible for Canadian Relations, Jean-François Roberge, reacted to the announcement made Monday by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on this subject.
“Education being a field of exclusive jurisdiction in Quebec, it goes without saying that we ask to receive these sums, without any conditions,” he said in a written statement sent to the media on Tuesday.
Mr. Trudeau said Monday that the next federal budget will include funding of $1 billion over five years for the creation of a national program that will aim to provide meals to children who attend schools across the country.
Mr. Roberge took the opportunity to remind people on Tuesday that other “pressing issues” under the responsibility of the federal government are still not being addressed.
“If he really wants to help our schools, he should first resolve the disproportionate proportion of asylum seekers sent to Quebec, a situation with tangible consequences for our public services,” he said.
The office of the federal Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland, indicated that the agreements may be different from one province to another for the distribution of funding depending on each of the systems in place.
Addressing food insecurity
The co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, estimated that the funding announced by the federal Prime Minister is equivalent to 40 million per year.
“We will not refuse any drop of water to fill the ocean of needs in terms of food insecurity among children,” he declared in an interview.
Mr. Nadeau-Dubois argued that the Quebec government should have complete latitude in allocating these amounts.
“These sums must be transferred to Quebec unconditionally,” he said.
Liberal MP Madwa-Nika Cadet, education spokesperson, affirmed that collaboration between Quebec and Ottawa will necessarily be necessary.
“Education is a provincial jurisdiction and it must remain so,” she said in a written statement. We will wait to see the budget and the program criteria, but we want the federal government to respect our areas of jurisdiction. »
PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon accused Mr. Trudeau’s government of increasing the creation of programs in areas of provincial jurisdiction while underfunding health and border management.
According to Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon, the federal government is incapable of managing this type of program like daycare.
“This inability to manage a program of this kind across Canada is exactly why the constitution of this country provided that it is up to the provinces to manage powers such as education,” he declared on social networks.